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When creating a custom Quick Action for macOS Mojave’s Finder, you have the option to supply a custom icon:

But this is what happens when you supply an ordinary image in Dark Mode:

or Light Mode:

(in Light Mode, it’s obviously better, but still not as subdued as it should be, which is more grey than pitch-black, or whatever color your original icon file might have).

Tip #1 – Getting the icon’s color right

The trick is to have the file end in ‘Template’, like ‘MyWorkflowIconTemplate.tiff’. But that’s not all there is to it. When you add a custom icon through Automator, it automatically gets renamed into ‘workflowCustomImage.png’. So no matter what you name your file, it won’t matter.

To fix this, add a custom icon to your Quick Action in Automator, save, switch to Finder and navigate to /Users/yourname/Library/Services/, where your newly saved Quick Action will end up.
There, right-click your Quick Action, select ‘Show Package Contents’, and navigate into Resources, where your icon file will be. Rename it to ‘workflowCustomImageTemplate.png’.
Now, navigate into Contents and open Info.plist. Look for <key>NSIconName</key> and change ‘workflowCustomImage’ to ‘workflowCustomImageTemplate’. Save.

Now the icon will look like this:

That’s much better. But there’s another issue we need to take care of:

The icon’s a bit too large, even though in Finder and the “More…” menu, it looks well-sized.

Tip #2 – Getting the Touch Bar icon to play nice

I thought I’d be smart about it, since the “append ‘Template’ “ trick worked, I’d have three differently sized images and append @2x and @3x. But it didn’t work.
The trick is to have a TIFF file with 2 (or 3, to be on the safe side) representations – one at 1x, one at 2x and one at 3x.
And voila, it worked:

To create the TIFF, I wrote a small app that takes my icon file, creates three NSBitmapImageRep objects from it and adds them to an NSImage instance. Then it writes the NSImage object’s TIFFRepresentation to disk.
Open that file in Preview.app and you’ll notice all three icons inside that one TIFF (you might have to select View – Thumbnails in the menu to show them)
Select the first and select Tools -> Adjust Size… in the menu bar.
Resize the image to 16×16 (which I found to be working nicely) and set its resolution to 72, if it isn’t already.
Select the next thumbnail and resize it to 32×32 at 144 DPI, and the third thumbnail to 48×48 at 216 DPI. Save.
Now repeat Tip #1 with this new file and you’re all set.

I’m very pleased to announce the immediate availability of Yoink v2.0 for iPad and iPhone. It’s a a free upgrade for everyone who’s purchased before and has a lot of great, new features, like iCloud Sync, Handoff and Siri Shortcuts.

Yoink Overview

What’s Yoink?

Yoink is your storage space (or “shelf”, as some would call it) for everything you’d like to keep around for a little while – text snippets, images, files – just about anything you wish. Use drag and drop with Yoink as a Slide-Over or Side-by-Side app to store files, or use the Action/Share extension, the Today Widget or the File Provider to get files into Yoink.

How does Yoink work?

The most obvious use case is to drag and drop files to it from other apps, like selected text, or images from websites, or emails, or map locations, just to name a few. However, there are a number of ways to save files in Yoink: – Yoink’s Share/Action extension shows up in almost any share sheet. – The Today widget lets you quickly store your clipboard’s contents – In the Files app, you can drag and drop files to Yoink’s file provider (and actually do that from any app that supports iOS 11’s files browser) – Siri Shortcuts help you save your clipboard’s contents or start downloads with a simple voice command, and without having to activate Yoink

So, now that you’ve got all your files in Yoink, how can you get it out again?

– You can drag and drop anything from Yoink to any other app that supports drag and drop (and the dragged file types). – Anything in Yoink can be copied to your clipboard. – Yoink’s keyboard: Wherever you’re editing text, Yoink is right there with you – in the form of a keyboard. On iPad, drag and drop items out to where you’d like them in your text; on iPhone tap to copy items. – Yoink’s Today widget: Tap any item in the widget and it’s copied to your clipboard – The file provider: Any app that support’s iOS 11’s Files browser can access items stored in Yoink – Spotlight search: The system-wide search can find any item stored in Yoink and take you right to it in the app

What’s New in Yoink v2.0?

iCloud Sync

Yoink syncs your items across all your iOS devices using iCloud (Mac sync will follow at a later date). Each device has its own “shelf” in Yoink, neatly grouping items together so you’ll always know where to find them. Not only are synced files accessible via Yoink itself, but all relevant extensions as well: the keyboard, the today widget, Spotlight and the File provider.

Handoff

Transfer files between your iPads, iPhones and Macs (separate Yoink for Mac app v3.5 required) using Handoff. When files are selected on the sending device, those are transmitted. If no selection is made, you’ll be able to select on the receiving device.

Siri Shortcuts

Using Siri on iOS 12, you can store your clipboard’s contents or download the link on your clipboard in Yoink, all without having to switch-to or activate Yoink. You can also copy files from Yoink, for instance, the most recently added image, PDF, text or weblink. Lastly, you can tell open to show you a specific sync’ed device with a simple voice command.

Keyboard commands

Yoink can now be almost completely controlled by external keyboards. Selecting items, viewing their contents, searching, copying, pasting can all be done without you having to touch your screen.

Dark Mode and smaller icons

Yoink can now be used in a beautiful dark mode. You can also set it up to use smaller icons, so you can show more files at once.

… and much more!

There are lots of other improvements and bug fixes, like being able to edit text right from Yoink, improved download notifications, better and more efficient icon creation and Spotlight indexing, support for universal links or in-app search. Basically, not one part of Yoink has gone unimproved. It uses less memory and has become more responsive and reliable.

Pricing and Availability

Yoink for iPad and iPhone is available on the App Store for the price of $5.99 / £5.99 / €6,99, with all features unlocked – there’s no subscription or in-app purchase.

Yoink requires an iPad or iPhone that runs iOS 11 or newer. It’s available in English, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Korean. More languages will follow.

Yoink is also available for (and originated on) Mac, exclusively available on the Mac App Store for the price of $6.99 / £6.99 / €7,99, with a free, 15-day trial available on its website.

I’m very happy to announce the immediate availability of Yoink v3.5 for Mac. It’s a free upgrade for everyone who has already purchased the app and brings two great new features, as well as compatibility improvements and bug fixes.

Yoink Overview

What is Yoink?

Yoink offers a temporary place for file- and app-content drags to free your mouse so you can more easily and quickly navigate to the actual destination of your drag. This is especially helpful when it comes to moving and copying files between different windows, spaces or (fullscreen-) apps.

How does Yoink fit into my workflow?

Yoink stays in the background most of the time, waiting for you to drag someting. The app fades in at the edge of your screen when you start a drag, like a file in Finder, or app-content like an image from a website, or text from a document. Drag your files to Yoink, and your mouse is free for you to navigate more easily and comfortably. Yoink will hold on to the files you drag to it until you drag them out again.

The app can be customized in a number of ways. You can set up where it should appear (at either side of your screen, top, center or bottom; or at the mouse cursor), when it should appear (when a drag starts, or when a drag reaches the edge of your screen) and what apps it should (or should not) appear in. If a file drag contains multiple files, a Stack is created so you can drag them out together again easily. Stacks can also be split up if you’d like to drag out one specific file in that drag. QuickLook is available for all files you add to Yoink, as icon previews for quick identification and as full previews for a detailed look. A keyboard shortcut lets you hide Yoink if you currently don’t need it, and show it again when you do.

What’s New in Yoink v3.5?

Yoink Clipboard History Today Widget

Yoink offers you a history of your clipboard’s contents with a convenient, out-of-the-way Today Widget. With it, you can copy previous items back to your clipboard, or send them straight to Yoink.

Handoff

You can now transfer files between Macs, iPads and iPhones (separate Yoink for iOS app required, available on the App Store) using Handoff. Selected files are transferred right away, whereas if there’s no selection, you can pick specific items on the receiving device.

Compatibility Improvements

Aside from improvements regarding the compatibility with various apps, Yoink also now fully supports macOS Mojave 10.14, including its Dark and Light appearances.

This comes with an override where you can explicitly choose Yoink’s dark or light appearance, ignoring the setting in System Preferences.

Pricing and Availability

Yoink for Mac is available on the Mac App Store for the price of $6.99 / £6.99 / €7,99, with a free, 15-day trial available on its website. It requires at least macOS Lion 10.7.3, macOS High Sierra 10.13 or newer is recommended. The app is localized in English, German, French, Italian, Chinese (Simplified), Korean, Japanese, Portuguese (Portugal) and Portuguese (Brazil).

Yoink is also available for iPad and iPhone, exclusively available on the App Store for the price of $5.99 / £5.99 / €6,99.